Thanksgiving

We had a great time going home for Thanksgiving.  It was fun to spend time with family.  The only downer part was when Chris sprained his ankle playing basketball with the boys.  Other than that, it was great!

Eagles flying

We went home for Casey's eagle court-of-honor, and to spend one last weekend all together as a family before Carter leaves on his mission at the end of December.  It was a ton of fun!  All of the boys got their scout shirts put together, so that we could have a picture taken of all of them.  Here are some great pictures from the occasion:

Silly boys!

Anna and Max had the great idea of making a choo-choo train during the refreshments after the court-of-honor.  They also raced across the gym.

Anna and Me

About a week ago Tina and I went over to Taylor and Katie's house. I was working on a homework assignment and Anna wanted to see what I was doing on my computer. So, I said that she should come sit with me so she could help me work on my assignment. I asked her," Anna, what do good teachers do?" Because she is in pre-school and is an expert on this she said," They tells stories, read books, and sing songs." Her information was so insightful I included it in my paper.

Here is the picture we took together on my MacBook laptop. Anna is the greatest.

Thankful

I sprained my ankle yesterday but as of this writing am doing much better. Never let anyone try to tell that having your foot perpendicular to the rest of you body is every a good idea. I tried it yesterday playing basketball and boldly affirm this is never a good thing. You'd think that after about the fifteen or so times I have sprained my ankle, I would have learned this very important lesson. I guess I wanted to see if I could get a different outcome this time around and sure enough got the same results.

Despite hobbling around, this has not diminished my enjoyment of Thanksgiving one bit. I am thankful I had decided to bring my basketball shoes and wear them during the game. They have pretty good ankle support and helped lessen the severity of my injury. I am thankful that Mom and Dad Davis happened to have some spare crutches that I could use to get around. I am thankful my wife helped me out by taking care of my dishes and doing things for me so that I could rest my ankle.

Finally, I am thankful that there are people at home who are going to help us by putting in our new washer while I am not able to do it myself.

All in all, things are good and I cannot complain.

Chris

Things I am grateful for

• A wonderful husband who honors the priesthood, fulfills his calling, and helps me open jars too
• Being married to my best friend
  
• A great family who all love me
• A great job where I get to do what I went to school for
• My college education
  
• A great calling in the church where I get to serve
• Cute little kids in our ward who make me smile
• Cute students who make me smile
• The Atonement of the Savior
• Modern medicine
• Good health
• A niece and nephew who are adorable and make me laugh
• Great in-laws
• Life
• A good home
• Having a washing machine and dryer in my home
• Movies
• Date nights with my husband/best friend
• Having a nice car that gets me around
• Being able to cook, and having a husband who likes to cook too!
• A great ward with a great bishopric (the 2nd counselor is especially handsome . . . not that I'm biased)
• Insurance--we have used a lot of it this year with the new car and Chris's surgery in August
• Running, cold tap water that I can drink out of the tap
• Living in a great country
  
• So much more . . . 

I love Thanksgiving time!  What are you grateful for?

Casey made the Team!!!

Casey made the team and Tina and I are excited for him. He loves basketball and has worked really hard. I am glad that he has found a sport he loves as I played sports year round in high school and loved every minute of it. There are some things you learn from team sports you just cannot learn in a classroom.

Way to go Casey.

Congratulations!

Casey made the basketball team!  Yippee!  We are so excited for you!

Tag

What are your middle names?  Christopher Andrew Rusch and Tina Marie Rusch.
How long have you been together? We met on August 20, 2008 and have been together ever since.
How long did you know each other before you started dating?  About five minutes.
Whose siblings do you see the most?  Probably mine, but both of our siblings live in town.
Do you have any children together?  Not yet.
What about pets?  I don't want to have any.  Chris wants a dog, much to my chagrin.
Did you go to the same school?  Yes, but at different times.  Chris has done all the BYUs.  I just did BYU-Provo.
Where do you eat out most as a couple?  We are eclectic--we love trying new restaurants.  Chris especially loves to find hole-in-the-wall places to eat at.
Where is the furthest you have ever traveled as a couple?  To Georgia--last Christmas, and for the reception.
Who does the cooking?  We both do--I do most of the night-to-night cooking, and Chris does the cooking where he makes a mess out of the whole question.
Who is more social?  We are both pretty social.
Who is the neat freak?  Me.  Definitely.
Who is the most stubborn?  Depends.
Who wakes up earlier?  Me.  Not by choice.
Where was your first date?  We actually met online, and Chris asked me to meet him at Gloria's Little Italy.  As Chris says, before we even talked, he felt like he had been struck by lightning, and knew that he needed to get to know me better.  Even though we met online, we found out that we lived about three blocks away from each other.
Do you get flowers often?  Often enough.
Who sings better?  I like to think that I do.
Who does the laundry?  I have forbidden Chris from touching it.
Who is better with the computer?  That one is a draw!
Who drives when you are together?  I prefer it when he drives.  Sometimes, if he is really tired, I will, but he usually does.
Who picks where you go to dinner?  It is a combined effort.
Who is the first one to admit when they are wrong?  Depends.
Who wears the pants in this relationship?  We both do.
Who eats more sweets?  Me.
Who cries more?  Me.
What's your best day together?  I think just whenever we have a day to be "us," and go run errands, or go to the temple together, or make dinner together, or go to a museum, or whatever.
Where did you honeymoon?  Disneyland, California.  It was the best ever!
Favorite date night?  Just whenever we can be together.
Favorite TV show to watch together?  Honestly, we never watch TV.  Sometimes we watch the Food Network, because Chris loves it.  We also love watching history documentaries.  Dorky, I know . . . 
I tag:  Whoever wants to be tagged!  Let me know if you copy this, k?

The Davis family

Or is it the Chris and Tina Rusch family?  We aren't sure . . .why in the world did we go in the middle?

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween!  Like Chris says, no one remembers the reason for the season any more.  To which I replied, "What is the reason for the season?"  Weird.  We were happy to have the day off of church stuff, since we had church meetings every day last week!

We went to deliver a birthday present to Randah, whose birthday is on Halloween.  Then, we went to look at our old house on Stratford Drive, which is right by where she lives.  Isn't it cute?  A new porch has been built onto it, but the numbers are still the same as they were when we lived there!

Then we went to Taylor and Katie's to celebrate Halloween.  We saw their kids in costumes, and watched The Others together.  When I was taking pictures of the kids, Max was being so cute!  After I would take the picture, he would come over and say, "See, see," and I would show him the picture.  Then he would point to it and tell me who was in the picture: "Max.  Anna."  It was just too adorable to be able to talk to him!  We also gave a birthday present to Carter, whose birthday is on Thursday.  It was way fun!

Hope everyone had a great one!